Services Trade and Global Value Chains
Services play a role in global value chains in many ways, similar to goods. But services deserve special attention because of how they are transacted, how they affect downstream sectors, how they are regulated, and how international cooperation can...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/627361498584454928/Services-trade-and-global-value-chains http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27629 |
| Summary: | Services play a role in global value
chains in many ways, similar to goods. But services deserve
special attention because of how they are transacted, how
they affect downstream sectors, how they are regulated, and
how international cooperation can contribute to integrating
national markets. Databases on trade in value added, which
cover only cross-border transactions in services, reveal a
high and growing share of services in trade in value added
across countries and industries. Although international
transactions in services that take place through foreign
investment are difficult to measure, their economic impact
can be estimated. The resulting improved access to
financial, communications, and transport services
facilitates the emergence of global value chains, enhances
downstream manufacturing firms’ productivity, and shifts the
pattern of comparative advantage toward sectors intensive in
these services. Despite significant unilateral
liberalization, service markets in many countries remain
protected by restrictions on the entry of foreign services
and service providers, as well as discretionary and
discriminatory regulatory requirements. International
cooperation in services has attempted to follow the example
of reciprocal market opening for goods, but this approach
has delivered little incremental liberalization. More could
be achieved through greater emphasis on international
regulatory cooperation. |
|---|